KARACHI: A sessions court on Monday acquitted former Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Saleem Shahzad in a 23-year-old rioting case for want of evidence.

The former MQM leader and his absconding accomplices were booked for their alleged involvement in rioting and arson in 1994 at the Landhi police station.

An additional district and sessions judge (East) acquitted the accused since prosecution witnesses did not name him as one of the accused.

Mr Shahzad, however, is still facing criminal trials in four cases. He was booked in a case pertaining to harbouring and treatment of alleged terrorists at the Dr Ziauddin Hospitals.

Besides, three other cases lodged in the ’90s at the Malir and Landhi police stations pertaining to murder, kidnapping, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and rioting are also pending disposals in courts.

Miller jailed for 10 years

An accountability court sentenced the owner of a flour mill, Asad Abbas Khan, to 10-year imprisonment in a wilful loan default case.

The court also handed down eight-year imprisonment to his son, Junaid Asad Khan, in the same case.

The judge found them guilty of wilful default of around Rs30 million loans obtained from a private bank in 2011.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs30m on each convict and in case of non-payment of the fine they would have to undergo an additional two years in prison.

The court also declared both convicts disqualified for 10 years from being elected or appointed a member of any public body or statuary authority and government services.

The National Accountability Bureau had filed a reference against the accused persons last year for obtaining loans and defaulting wilfully causing a huge loss to the bank.

Remand of ‘knifeman aide’ extended

A judge extended the physical remand of an alleged accomplice of the ‘knifeman’ in five identical cases till Oct 26.

After the end of his remand, police produced Mohammad Shahzad again in court and sought an extension in his custody for further questioning.

Police claimed that he was a close aide to suspected knifeman M. Waseem, who has allegedly been targeting women in Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Gulshan-i-Iqbal.

They added that the detained suspect, who was arrested on Oct 12, was a friend of the alleged attacker and both belonged to the same village in Sahiwal and he provided cover to Waseem during attacks.

All five cases were registered at the Sharea Faisal police station on the complaint of the victims’ relatives.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2017